Dinner

How do you handle fussy adult eaters in your household? Now I’m also not calling anyone in my household fussy – but it’s more a case of making sure we’re getting enough diversity and nutrients from our diet. Sometimes “I don’t like this” isn’t an option when you’re living a 100% gluten-free and vegan life.

My parents will laugh reading this, because they’ve done their time in that situation when I was a child fussy about the food on my plate. But here I am – as an adult – living breathing proof that you can do a complete 360.

So, when my partner says he doesn’t like a certain ingredient, I treat it as a challenge. Oh but you will like it, a little voice inside my head says. And guess what? It works. Take eggplant for example – he used to cringe when I brought some home. But now he looks forward to my miso glazed eggplant or hidden veg dal among other dishes.

Another thing not liked was miso – so much so that I had to avoid it like the plague. Well, guess what, we’ve had another breakthrough. Not only are these miso green beans incredibly tasty, they’re also incredibly easy. I’m talking 10-minute meal territory. I serve this up for lunch, but it’s also perfect as a side along with your protein of choice.

I try to keep pasta stocked in the pantry at all times. I rarely experience pasta cravings but this dish is simple and easy to make, especially when you’ve come home from work and haven’t given dinner a thought.

Pasta bake cake was my attempt at turning a simple bowl of pasta marinara into something a little more exciting. Needing a cheesy element, but trying not to overdo my soy intake, I pulled out my trusted recipe for cashew cheese – one of my earliest recipes – to complete the dish. Cashew cheese tastes like a hybrid of runny cheese and what I imagine queso dip to taste like (full disclosure, I’ve never had queso dip!).

You can add vegetables like spinach or kale to the pasta before you bake it, and you can make your own marinara sauce. In the interest of showing you just how easy living gluten-free and vegan can be, I’ve decided to keep this one as simple as possible. That means I’ve used store-bought sauce and left out the additions in the bake. Having said that, I do serve a slice of this with some fresh rocket or finely shredded kale (with a light drizzle of lemon juice) on the side.

Cook pasta 2-3 minutes less than the packet directions. Strain and set aside.

Grease an 8-inch/20cm cake tin. Put a tray under in case the tomato sauce seeps through the tin during cooking.

Pour about 100g pasta sauce from one jar into the tin to cover the bottom. Fill cake tin with about half of the cooked pasta.

Add remaining 400g pasta sauce from the opened jar and pour about a quarter of your cashew cheese over the top. Add remaining pasta and pour contents of the second jar of sauce on top. Add remaining cashew cheese ensuring it is evenly spread over the top.

Place tin on tray in the oven and cook for around 20 minutes. Then, remove from oven and let stand to set for 10-15 minutes. Cut into slices and serve with rocket or kale.

Vegetarian or not, miso glazed eggplant is my go-to at Japanese restaurants. But – like most things – my body doesn’t love it as much as I would like it to. It always leaves me feeling sluggish and unwell.

If you have the same problem, read on, because I have the solution. I’ve been finessing this recipe for a while. I’ve had it for lunch, eaten it as leftovers and served it up to guests at a dinner party, and it went down a treat every time. It is the only way to eat eggplant.

This baked miso eggplant is best enjoyed with a quick pickle of cucumber and red onion, and some steamed basmati rice. That’s all you need. Let the eggplant shine.

This fishless tuna (funa) is really simple to make and tastes like canned tuna in brine. A lot of people like to make vegan tuna out of sunflower seeds or chickpeas, but I get the best result using a combination of the two.

This vegan tuna salad is elevated with the addition of these marinated mixed chickpeas. Suddenly, eating a salad for lunch isn’t the worst thing in the world. So, file this recipe in your list of best vegetarian recipes for lunch or those nights when you just can’t be bothered to cook. It will simultaneously nourish and satisfy you.

For me, the best thing about summer is mango season. We’ve had a lot more 40+ degree (Celcius!) days than I can ever remember having. It was virtually impossible to go anywhere near the kitchen when it was that hot. Cold mango and an ice pack on my forehead was the only cure.

While you’re here, I wanted to thank you for reading Kale Mary and following me on the journey so far. Can’t believe it’s been a year already. I can promise that there will be more to love like my fried cauliflower and sushi burgers (your fave recipes to date) in 2018 and beyond.

Summer is here all right. In the furniture shipment for the house, a leather lounge was included. Of course, in the excitement to complete the puzzle of furnishing a unique living and lounge situation, I forgot that skin sticks to leather on 30 degree (Celsius) days. But hey, at least it looks good.

We’re up to the part of the year which I call the worst. Driving anywhere is not by any means pleasant and you can forget trying to get a car park at a shopping centre – unless you’re prepared to do three laps of the lot. Work is a nightmare. We close for two weeks and I’ll be taking an extra week off in January. Can’t wait. That’s if I make it to the 22nd. I need to do about six weeks’ worth of work in three. Thankfully a colleague has spared my ears the trauma of listing to the Christmas playlist she has enjoyed playing in the office for the last two Christmas seasons.

The one thing I like about this time of year? Summer fruit. There are mangoes everywhere, and I’ve been wanting to make these easy tostadas for the longest time. There’s no cooking time involved – only a short amount of prep-time. That’s what you want in summer.

I’ve been on a mission recently: to find vegan sheet pan dinners that can save me on weeknights. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be. There’s plenty of chicken sheet pan dinners, plenty of taco ones and plenty of nacho ones, but very few are vegan, and more interesting than roasted vegetables.

Sometimes I make the marinade from this recipe and turn it into a veganised palak paneer, which is what I started doing last week when I realised I could turn it into an easy sheet pan dinner. The first attempt wasn’t so great – I undercooked the mushrooms, burnt the marinade and added too much coconut milk. But every attempt since has been simply delicious. And guess what? It only takes 35 minutes.

This palak paneer is probably quite different to what you’ve seen and eaten. My take on the Indian classic is light, fresh and vibrant – the perfect food to enjoy on a hot summer’s day. The umami and saltiness of the marinade meets the sweetness of the red onion and cherry tomatoes.